Supply chain integration in New Zealand: benchmark comparisons with the UK automotive sector

Supply chain integration is a promising approach to cross-enterprise process improvement that is still not well understood. This research investigates the level of sophistication (maturity) of supply chain integration in New Zealand from the systems uncertainty perspective. Uncertainty levels of value streams are evaluated using the 'uncertainty circle' concept, thereby enabling benchmark comparisons of value stream performance. A sample of 21 NZ process industry value streams is assessed using a so-called Quick Scan Audit Methodology (QSAM). and the uncertainty results compared with those obtained from 21 value streams in the UK automotive sector. This benchmarking revealed that value streams in New Zealand are weakly integrated and have control mechanisms which are significantly looser than those of the UK sample, even though they face higher uncertainty on the control and demand sides. In contrast, crosscountry differences in supply and process uncertainty are marginal. While providing insights into the general health of New Zealand value streams, the authors acknowledge that the sample is not a comprehensive representation of every NZ value stream

Harvey: A Greybox Fuzzer for Smart Contracts

We present Harvey, an industrial greybox fuzzer for smart contracts, which are programs managing accounts on a blockchain. Greybox fuzzing is a lightweight test-generation approach that effectively detects bugs and security vulnerabilities. However, greybox fuzzers randomly mutate program inputs to exercise new paths; this makes it challenging to cover code that is guarded by narrow checks, which are satisfied by no more than a few input values. Moreover, most real-world smart contracts transition through many different states during their lifetime, e.g., for every bid in an auction. To explore these states and thereby detect deep vulnerabilities, a greybox fuzzer would need to generate sequences of contract transactions, e.g., by creating bids from multiple users, while at the same time keeping the search space and test suite tractable. In this experience paper, we explain how Harvey alleviates both challenges with two key fuzzing techniques and distill the main lessons learned. First, Harvey extends standard greybox fuzzing with a method for predicting new inputs that are more likely to cover new paths or reveal vulnerabilities in smart contracts. Second, it fuzzes transaction sequences in a targeted and demand-driven way. We have evaluated our approach on 27 real-world contracts. Our experiments show that the underlying techniques significantly increase Harvey's effectiveness in achieving high coverage and detecting vulnerabilities, in most cases orders-of-magnitude faster; they also reveal new insights about contract code.Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1807.0787

A Method for Reconciling Subjectivist and Objectivist Assumptions in Management Research

Application of objectivist methodological assumptions and overreliance on mathematical analysis can cause researchers to oversimplify reality and thereby generate rigorously derived theories and recommendations that lack practitioner relevance. Although mixed-methods approaches to management research have long been heralded, the details remain sparse about how to reconcile apparently disparate approaches. By reflecting on lessons learned over some 15 years of practical experience with a robust mixed-methods approach specifically designed to bridge the academia–practitioner gap, this article demonstrates how inclusion of an interpretive field perspective yields a much more comprehensive picture of the relationship between the organization and its contextual environment. Thus, a key purpose of this article is to stimulate researchers into adopting a more balanced portfolio of research methods that will simultaneously achieve research rigor and generate insightful practitioner-relevant theory

Supply chain integration: an international comparison of maturity

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the uptake of supply chain integration (SCI) principles internationally and the resultant integration maturity. Design/methodology/approach – A rigorous supply chain diagnostics methodology called the Quick Scan is used to assess the integration maturity of 72 value streams located in New Zealand, Thailand and the UK. Findings – The majority of the organisations studied are struggling to turn the SCI concept into reality. Supply chains on average are poorly integrated. However, there exist a handful of exemplar cases that provide guidance; levels of integration maturity appear not to differ internationally. Research limitations/implications – Only three nations are compared, hence the sample is not fully representative of all countries and industries. There is a significant gap between supply chain rhetoric and practice; clear guidance on how to enable effective integration is required. National settings do not appear to affect the extent of application of supply chain management concepts. Practical implications – SCI is a very difficult undertaking. Indifferent practice is the norm. If organisations can attain even the middle ground of internal integration they will outperform many of their competitors. Originality/value – The paper presents an international benchmark of SCI maturity involving three triangulated measures of supply chain performance